Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2015

Fri, Oct 3

For her last two collections, her men’s spring/summer 2015 ready to wear and her resort 2015, Alexander McQueen designer Sarah Burton has been reflecting on an inspired trip to Japan; the Geisha, the Samurai and the delicate and meaningful approach to dressing that the Japanese culture embodies. Cue soft silks, graphic and historic-like prints and a soft palette of black, white, grey, red and pale pink. While all this sounds beautifully feminine - let’s not forget, this ain’t no Ellie Saab show, this is Alexander McQueen, and thus requires a sense of rawness and strength or “savage beauty” as it’s famously become to be known.

The Collection

Backstage, Burton admitted to falling in love with Japan years ago, when she first started working for McQueen. Having to travel to the country for work several times a year, she quickly sank her teeth into the Japanese culture, buying up antique kimonos, gathering Japanese fabric swatches and collecting ancient artefacts. The collection for Spring/Summer 2015 reflected this love – there were weighty kimono-like shapes, bell sleeves, origami-esque folds, long and drawn-out silhouettes and dark details juxtaposed with sheer panels and feminine floral motifs. Making up the “savageness”, as mentioned earlier, were tight harnesses, belts, and fetish-like elements including black helmet masks framing the face. Despite this, overall the collection was surprisingly wearable, a look that would go down well at an event that required an artful, yet refined look – such as a gallery opening or wedding.

Backstage Beauty: Hair and Makeup

With makeup maestro Pat McGrath at the helm, the makeup echoed the warrior-woman vibe, eyes were dark and shadowy, skin was matte and the face was framed with a black glossy mask. Of the aforementioned “masks”, McGrath said there was a somewhat “manga” influence, Japan’s famous animation style. She also mentioned that Burton was inspired by a fashion story McGrath did for W Magazine with similar, albeit white, masks, starring Australian model Julia Nobis. Side note: if you’ve ever wanted to know the kind of effort that goes into this kind of look at a runway show, keep in mind that out of the 60-70ish masks created by McGrath and her team, only 35 were used. The smudgy, brown matte eyes were created using cream eyeshadows and the skin was paled down and mattified.For the hair, stylist Guido Palau (who also created the sporty ponies at Alexander Wang), used Redken products and ran with the Oriental theme, slicking the model’s manes back and creating a low chignon at the base of the neck.